


Stranger Things Christmas

by Ankala



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Christmas fic, F/M, Fluff, Gen, and it’s super out of season, i wrote this like 2 years ago, im only posting it cause I just made this account
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 16:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ankala/pseuds/Ankala
Summary: Super out of season Christmas fic that I’m only posting cause I just made an account. The gang has a Christmas party and Steve feels really out of place, until he doesn’t.





	Stranger Things Christmas

Steve had no idea why he had said yes. 

Or why he had been invited at all. With his relationship with Nancy on hold, he wasn’t with her and the older Byers. He was babysitting the kids a lot, especially Dustin, but he wasn’t a member of their ‘party’ thing. And he had never been close to Chief Hopper or Ms. Byers - Joyce, she had said to call her. So he wasn’t sure what group pulled him into the little Christmas get together they were having.  
It wasn’t Christmas just yet, as the kids would have to spend that with their actual families. Well, the blood related ones at least. Anyone who has gotten close through that mess of trauma, definitely has to be considered a family. But, Eleven wanted to celebrate with her friends, and since Hopper certainly wasn’t going to deny her that chance, so they all gathered at Hopper’s new house, as El was still technically under house arrest, and the kids planned somethings to do with El, as Joyce made plans for a ‘family’ dinner. A family who traverses the Upside Down together, celebrates Christmas together, apparently.  
That still didn’t explain what Steve was doing there. He didn’t fit well with the adults, things were awkward with the teenagers, and the kids are - well, they’re the kids. There’s only so much of them he could handle and only so much of him they could too.  
But Steve had nothing better to do, so when he was invited to join the get-together, he said yes with little hesitation.  
So that explained what Steve was doing there, but Steve was still left wondering what he should be doing there. Go join Nancy and Jonathan’s conversation on the couch despite their broken relationship? Too awkward. Join the kids in whatever kid stuff they were up to? God, that El girl scared him. And considering how overprotective the kids (read: Mike) were of her, he certainly didn’t want to do anything that could be poorly received. So, he would get stuck being awkward. Start a conversation with Joyce or Hopper? How would he even go about doing that? Again, awkward.  
His saving grace came in the form of a rude, gruff, commanding voice that sounded behind him.  
“So, Harrington, you gonna tell us what you’ve brought, or are you gonna stand there like an idiot?”  
It was at that moment Steve remembered the box in his hands and that he should probably do something with it.  
“Oh, um, hey, Chief. I brought some chocolate-peppermint cheesecake as a desert.”  
“Where on earth did you manage to buy chocolate peppermint cheesecake?”  
“I, uh, I didn’t. I made it.”  
Chief Hopper raised his eyebrows, sighing and shaking his head.. “Damn, not exactly a skill I would pin you as having. Well, I’m pretty sure Joyce’s plan for dessert didn’t go exactly how she wanted anyway, so this might be just what she needs. The kitchen’s right down that hall to the right.” He pointed down the hall.  
“Right.” Thank God for Hopper’s instructions; they gave him the perfect out from awkwardness to start a conversation with Joyce.  
\---  
The statement that Joyce’s plan didn’t come to fruition was a huge understatement.  
The green beans were boiling over on the stove. The potatoes were still sitting in a bowl, waiting to be mashed. Some sort of sauce was spattered on the wall behind the stove. The ham hadn’t even been put in yet, but there was smoke already coming out of the oven. The worst of it was what he assumed to be ginger bread burnt to a crisp on the counter.  
Steve walked in to set down the cake, opening his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by Joyce’s command.  
“Jonathan! “Quick, take the ham out of the oven. I think it’s starting to smoke-” She stopped when she turned around and crashed straight into Steve, gasping. “Oh! Steve! I’m sorry, I thought you were Jonathan!” She laughed in the way only a stressed out single mother of two could. “Where is he!? I need help!”  
“Ms. Byers - er - Joyce, isn’t this the ham sitting on the counter?”  
Joyce spun around, hair flying and -  
She gasped, rushing over to the oven to figure out what was smoking. She threw open the door, grabbed an oven mitt, and pulled out a flaming pizza box. She threw it on the floor, and Steve rushed over, stomping on it.  
Once the fire was successfully extinguished, Joyce barely caught herself on the counter, nearly hyperventilating.  
“Joyce, I think you need to calm down. Let me help.” Steve put his arm on her back, resting it just between her shoulder blades. “Look, if we put the ham in now, it should be good by 6:45. Late, sure, but it should be fine.”  
Joyce nodded and watched Steve put the ham in the oven. Then he turned to the mess on the stove. He turned down the heat on the green beans and asked Joyce what he should use for a masher.  
“Oh, uh, here.” She handed him the masher, “I guess I’ll try and figure out something else for dessert-” She noticed the cake he had made. “Oh, what’s this?” She opened the box and smiled.  
Steve realized he had failed to mention what he had brought. He gasped. “That’s actually why I came in here in the first place. I brought dessert to thank you for inviting me.”  
“Oh my goodness, you have saved this meal.” She exclaimed, grabbing him by the sides of his head in excitement.  
“Oh, uh, thank you,” Steve said, just as Dustin entered the kitchen.  
“Steve! Thank God you’re here! “Max, Will, and I need your help. Mike, Eleven, and Lucas have it in their heads that we should put a star on top of the tree, when obviously it should be an angel.”  
When Joyce noticed the confusion on Steve’s face, she explained to him that the kids had decided to help El decorate the tree for Christmas.  
“Yeah, and those three are being really dumb about it. Steve, you’ve got to tell them how wrong they are.”  
“Well, I’m so sorry I can’t settle you twerps’ petty argument right now. I’m making dinner.”  
“I think I can handle it from here. Thank you for your help. You’re free to mingle. I think that I can keep the fire to a minimum”  
Steve gave her a smile, and as he and Dustin began walking away, Dustin questioned Steve. “What… happened in there?”  
“Shut up, and forget it.” And for reasons unexplained, Dustin actually lets it go. “Now, what’s this about a… tree topper?” He asked as they entered the main room. There was arguing amongst the kids. The tree itself was certainly... decorated. There were the standard Christmas ball ornaments, probably ones Hopper had. There were probably way more candy canes than there should be. And then there were the handcrafted ornaments]the kids had each contributed. Some still had glue dripping from them, and the materials were still scattered throughout the room. But, gaudiest of all, were the lights. Steve had never seen so many Christmas lights put on one tree. It was obvious Joyce had contributed those, as no one else could ever own that many lights. The only empty part of the tree was the top; even the bottom had presents under it, most likely intended for the secret santa exchange planned for later that evening.  
In his hands, Will held a glistening crystal angel topper, while Mike had an equally beautiful star topper that possessed a stunning gleaming of its own. To Steve’s consternation, he couldn’t imagine either one in the tree, but he couldn’t put his finger on the reason.  
“Steve, will you please tell them that it’s common knowledge that you put a star on top of the tree,” Mike demanded.  
Steve opened his mouth to respond, but Max cut in, “They wouldn’t make angel toppers if you weren’t supposed to put them on top of the tree.”  
Steve had no idea. “I don’t know, guys, they’re both perfect tree toppers.”  
Dustin responded, unhappily, “Come on, Steve, just tell them how wrong they are so we can finish this up.”  
“Well, if you really want my opinion, I’d say you should use neither.”  
All of the kids looked at each other, and then yelled in protest at this opinion.  
“Well then what do you think we should do?” Max questioned. “We can’t just leave it empty.”  
“Yeah, we can’t have an empty spot when the rest of the tree is so full,” Lucas pointed out.  
That’s when it hit Steve. “But -” he said, sitting down. “Don’t you think they’re both so impersonal for a tree that has so much of you guys in it? I think you should make something. That’ll fit this tree so much better.”  
The kids glanced around to see what each of them thought.  
That’s when El finally cut in. “I think we should make a waffle and put that on top.”  
Steve almost started to laugh, but then he realized the kid was serious.  
“What if we made an angel shaped waffle?” Max suggested.  
“Wouldn’t it be easier to cut a waffle into the shape of a star?” Lucas responded.  
“I know, what if we make an angel, and then have the angel hold a star shaped waffle.”  
The kids were all in agreement and starting to get excited.  
“El, let’s go make a waffle. You guys make the angel.” Mike commanded as he grabbed El’s arm, guiding her to the kitchen. The rest of the kids got to working with the supplies remaining from the previous ornament construction. Steve couldn’t fathom how the kids had gone from arguing to working collectively on one task. What surprised Steve the most, however, was when Will called over to him, “Come on, Steve, aren’t you gonna help?” and none of the other kids protested.  
Their timing was perfect, as Mike and Eleven returned just as they finished making the angel, which made it questionable just what Mike and Eleven had been doing the whole time.  
Instead of revealing what exactly had taken them so long, Mike informed them that Joyce had told them to hurry and finish up so they could come to dinner, which was basically done. The messy topper that they had created fit the tree, which couldn’t look more perfect now that it was finished.  
“Ok, it looks great. You all ready for dinner?” As everyone started to head towards the dining room, Dustin grabbed Steve’s arm and pulled him towards where the kid was keeping his backpack. “What now, Dustin?” Steve asked.  
“Shhh, be quiet. Listen, you know how we’re doing that secret santa thing?” Without letting Steve answer, Dustin continued. “Well, you were mine.”  
“I don’t think you were supposed to tell me that yet.”  
“Duh, I know how secret santa works. But I didn’t think you would want others to see this.”  
Steve instantly became worried about what he could possibly be talking about. “And, um, what exactly would this be?”  
Dustin pulled a cylinder out of his bag. “Don’t worry, I have a cover gift for when we actually give them, but you should open this up now.”  
Steve was shocked to open a Farrah Fawcett poster. “Oh, Dustin, I-”  
Mike came back into the doorway, “Hey, are you two coming, or what?”  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re coming, we’re coming.” Dustin hurriedly pulled the poster out of Steve’s hands and put it back in the protective case. “I’ll sneak this into your car before we leave.” Steve had no words. “Come on, we’ve taken long enough. Let’s go get food. I’m hungry.”  
Dinner was a lively production with lots of shouting and laughter, Many different conversations going on at once. Everybody loved the food, and found Steve’s dessert delicious. There was only one moment of awkwardness with Jonathan and Nancy, and no one else seemed to notice, so it went forgotten.  
Immediately after dinner, the kids were eager to exchange their gifts, so they moved back into the main room. Joyce and Hopper excused themselves to go share a cigarette on the front porch, rather than sit through the exchange.  
Eleven, with a giant smile on her face, asked if she could give her gift first. No one wanted to say no to her, and, of course, there was no reason to. Her giftee was Will, to whom she gifted art supplies that Hopper had given her a short trip our just to pick out herself. She had a prideful smirk on her face, as Will thanked her in complete happiness.  
Since he received a gift last, Will got to give the next gift. As he was the artist of the group, he had drawn something for Lucas. The picture was of Lucas, as his role in their party, the ranger. The drawing was absolutely beautiful, and Lucas was extremely grateful, even mentioning the idea of getting it framed.  
Lucas was next to give a gift, giving Dustin a whole box full of cat toys. Dustin seemed more excited for this than Steve would have expected him to. After his first cat’s death at the hands of D'Artagnan, he had learned to appreciate his new cat more, so he was happy to receive something for Tews.  
When Dustin gave Steve nothing but a package of socks, the others protested, saying Dustin should have been more personal with the gift. But Steve knew just how personal Dustin’s true gift was for Steve, and he couldn’t have been happier with it. And the other’s quickly stopped their complaints once Steve told them that it was fine.  
When it was finally Steve’s turn, he revealed he had Max for the exchange, and that he had no actual physical object to give her. “Since you seem so interested in driving, how about you let me teach you? That way, you can take us places without killing us all.” Max was ecstatic at the idea. “I was worried I was gonna have to ask Billy if I wanted to learn. You’re a lifesaver, Steve! Thank you so much.” But what truly brought a smile to his face was the hug she gave him.  
When Max gave Nancy the pair of hoop earring she had bought for her, she might not have meant to, but still made it clear she was worried the older girl wouldn’t like them. Nancy absolutely adored them, however, and promised to wear them to her next Christmas party that month.  
Nancy had somehow managed to get Jonathan, and she had gotten him film for his camera - the new one Steve had bought him just last year for the same holiday. Steve still felt horrible for everything he had done the year before, but he was glad to get to be here now with these people. To have this family he never thought he would, with his own parents always working and on business trips, and no sibling of his own.  
Jonathan’s gift to Mike was a few movie tickets - just how many, Steve couldn’t tell because of how Mike was holding them. “Terminator came out back in October, and will stop being in theaters soon, so I thought I’d get tickets for you so you could see it sooner rather than later.”  
No one was surprised to see that Mike’s secret santa was El. Mike was the one who came up with the idea, and then was the one who organised it. Steve was 99%- no, 100% sure that Mike had cheated to get his girlfriend, or whatever the two were calling their relationship. Of course, no one could say that Mike’s gift to El wasn’t the sweetest thing. The girl was made an official part to their party, being gifted the same walkie talkie each boy had and a Dungeons and Dragons guide, so as to let the girl learn about the game so she could finally join them in their sessions, once she was finally granted permission to leave the house. Until then, they could even hold a session or two here, at the Hoppers.  
The rest of the night was spent sitting in that room talking amongst themselves. A few minutes after the exchange, Hopper and Joyce returned, giggling about something, and it was obvious Joyce whispered something about mistletoe. Once that word was mentioned, Steve couldn’t help but notice the regret in Mike’s eyes, and it was obvious that the boy wished he had thought of that for him and El.  
The kids would soon need to be heading home, so everyone was trying to get in their last bits of conversation before they left.  
As Steve witnessed the joy in the room, and the caring everyone felt for one another, he couldn’t help but think to himself how well they all fit together. They were weird, sure, and certainly a ragtag group, but they really, truly, did fit together well. Everyone really, truly loved each other, despite having some... upside downs. They had truly joined together to become an amazing family.  
Steve finally knew why he had said yes.


End file.
